German AC crash in Delbrück - Bentfeld, 16 May 1944

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Hello,

I receive a mail from a local German historian, of which here is an extract:

"in World War II a small plane during an air crash on Tuesday 16th May 14:30 h local time in 1944. This plane was shot down by a RAF pilot in a small RAF British Spitfire plane. I found a small notice in the chronicle / historical book of our neighbour village. One member of the crew died.
At least one German soldier was hurt seriously.
The NAZI government at this time range forbid any contact with foreign forces and investigations in war events.
The location of this village is Germany, Westphalia, 33129 Delbrück - Bentfeld (around 15 km from city Paderborn in west direction)."

A Spitfire claiming a victory in May 1944 in Paderborn area seems doubtful to me, my first thoughts was to check for an USAAF fighter, but there was no US raid on Germany this day, and no claim by US fighters over Europe.

I suspect in this case either the date is wrong, or the German aircraft crashed without enemy action, but local people remember it was "shot down".

Can anyone check if they have a crash in this area this day ?

Thanks in advance

Laurent